INITIAL RIGHT-HEMISPHERE ACTIVATION OF SUBORDINATE WORD MEANINGS IS NOT DUE TO HOMOTOPIC CALLOSAL INHIBITION

Previous results (Burgess & Simpson, 1988a) have suggested that subord inate meanings are activated in the right hemisphere only when they ha ve been inhibited in the left hemisphere. Such findings are consistent with a homotopic callosal inhibition view of hemispheric interaction (Cook, 1986). The current study employed prime-target stimulus onset a synchronies intermediate to those used by Burgess and Simpson and obta ined equivalent priming of subordinate meanings over visual fields. Th ese data rule out homotopic callosal inhibition as the mechanism respo nsible for initial activation of subordinate meanings in the right hem isphere and challenge homotopic inhibition as a general mechanism of i nterhemispheric interaction.